On Day 11 in Turkey we left the Six Senses Kaplankaya and headed for Cappadocia. I am still amazed that on a one hour flight, a hot meal is served on Turkish Airlines (and a decent one too). Here was the menu and meal served:
After arriving in Cappadocia, we picked up our rental car (I highly recommend a car for Cappadocia) and drove about 1 hour to the hotel (there are two airports serving Cappadocia; we flew into Kayseri and flew out of Nevsehir). We decided to experience two different hotels while in Cappadocia for a number of reasons:
- we wanted a hotel with the best views of both balloons and rock formations
- we wanted one of the hotels to be a cave hotel
- we weren’t sure which areas of the region were best to stay
The first hotel we selected was the Sultan Cave Suites in Goreme (Cappadocia is basically a region in Turkey with many small towns and villages). We selected this one because it has the best view of the balloons in the morning. This is the view that greeted us from the hotel rooftop in the evening:
Although I can confirm that the views are amazing (I will show you in a separate post later), I would not recommend this hotel, or I would just recommend you come for the views in the morning. There was a very bad smell in the room which stayed pretty much the whole stay despite us informing the front desk. It smelled like sewage. Others have noted the same thing as well if you go online and read the reviews. Location is good however, and the breakfast is just ok, but the views from the restaurant at breakfast are nice.
Also, when we checked in, the light in our bathroom was not working, but was fixed by the time we came back from dinner. The room and bathroom was very clean and I liked the large walk in shower. Here is a tour of the room:
Anyway, we dropped our stuff off and then headed for dinner.
Zeferan Restaurant – My assistant found this restaurant and we decided to book it due to the high ratings and reviews. It was located about 30 minutes from our hotel. We didn’t know what to expect when we arrived, but it is basically a new restaurant located within a new hotel called the AJWA.
When we arrived it was late and we were the only ones eating. The staff was AMAZING. We started with a simple salad:
…and then our server brought out some bread, and I knew this was a special place. She passionately described the dips and bread while preparing them tableside:
…and then more bread came with an impressive presentation and story (I love when a restaurant is so passionate about their food, the story, history etc)…
We also ordered some Manti (Turkish dumplings) which were delicious:
…and finally, something that I had been wanting to try while doing research for this trip – testi kebap, which is from the Cappadocia region. Its basically meat cooked in a pottery and cracked open table side. The presentation is very elaborate:
Unfortunately, the dish here was better looking than it tasted. It lacked seasoning and the depth of flavors was not well developed. It was ok. Overall, service at this restaurant was amazing and the food was pretty good except for the testi kebap. I would suggest someone to try this restaurant if they were in the area.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel. The next day, we had a hot air balloon ride scheduled, but the forecast called for rain. Stay tuned to see how this turns out…